Hardware Serial Numbers Linux Command to Retrieve
Ever needed to obtain the serial number (or other details) for a remote server? Couldn’t be bothered to walk/run/drive/fly all the way there just to read a sticky label on the back or bottom of said server? Read on then.
The command you want to run, as root, is dmidecode. For example, to get the make and model and serial number of a server, do this:
dmidecode -t system
The result will be similar to:
# dmidecode 2.11
SMBIOS 2.5 present.
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Product Name: Vostro 1720
Version: Null
Serial Number: 996C4L1
UUID: Not Settable
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: Null
Family: Vostro
Handle 0x000F, DMI type 12, 5 bytes
System Configuration Options
Option 1: Jumper settings can be described here.
Handle 0x0018, DMI type 32, 20 bytes
System Boot Information
Status: No errors detected
Other options for the -t parameter are:
bios – tells you all about your bios.
system – tells you about the system hardware.
baseboard – all about the mother board.
chassis – all you need to know about the “box” the system is made up of.
processor – fairly obvious.
memory – again, fairly obvious.
cache – information about your CPU cache.
connector – what sockets are present on the computer. USB, firewire, ethernet etc.
slot – appears to be the bus information, and voltages present, supplied etc.
There’s brief help available:
dmidecode –help
Usage: dmidecode [OPTIONS]
Options are:
-d, –dev-mem FILE Read memory from device FILE (default: /dev/mem)
-h, –help Display this help text and exit
-q, –quiet Less verbose output
-s, –string KEYWORD Only display the value of the given DMI string
-t, –type TYPE Only display the entries of given type
-u, –dump Do not decode the entries
–dump-bin FILE Dump the DMI data to a binary file
–from-dump FILE Read the DMI data from a binary file
-V, –version Display the version and exit
However, to find out the different types you can supply, you need to supply an erroneous type:
dmidecode -t left_leg
Invalid type keyword: left_leg
Valid type keywords are:
bios
system
baseboard
chassis
processor
memory
cache
connector
slot
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